LEADERSHIP
76
EMB
77
WOMEN
LEADERS
CAN GROW
YOUR
BUSINESS
BY RANIA HABIBY ANDERSON
s we approach the middle
of 2017, there is much to
celebrate regarding the
advancement of women in
business, yet at leadership
levels, the statistics are still grim. On the
2016 Fortune 500 list, just 21 companies
have a woman at the helm—three less
than the previous two years. And the USA,
which dominates the list, is hardly an
isolated case, with research from Deloitte
indicating that women hold only 12 percent
of the world’s board seats.
For emerging economies facing
headwinds and struggling for growth,
this marks a missed opportunity, for
hidden in plain sight is their greatest
asset: an under-utilized pool of female
talent with the potential to boost not just
company profits, but national economies.
Emerging markets have long relied on
raw materials, trade agreements,
cheaper labor costs and fiscal or
monetary policy to drive their economies,
but they have failed to engage the millions
of highly-qualified women who can drive
innovation, new jobs and growth.
A
EMERGING MARKETS BUSINESS
SUMMER 2017
THE RESEARCH IS COMPELLING
Research findings show that more
women leaders and diverse teams result
in greater company performance.
In March this year, the International
Finance Corporation (IFC) released an
important global study, with research
focused on emerging markets in Africa,
Asia and the Middle East. Titled
‘Investing in Women: New Evidence for
the Business Case’, the study finds that
companies with gender-diverse boards
generate a higher return on equity than
those without, and that they outperform
in terms of share price performance
during times of crisis or volatility.
According to the study, high-performing
companies are also nearly 50 percent
more likely than low-performing
companies to report that men and
women have equal influence on strategy
development. What’s more, investors in
companies with strong gender diversity
strategies receive excess returns
running at a compound annual growth
rate of 3.5 percent.
ISSUE NO. 3
A study from Credit Suisse and another
from The Peterson Institute for
International Economics (PIIE) and Ernst
& Young (EY) also highlight the impact
that women in leadership positions can
have on company performance.
Credit Suisse’s research showed that
between 2012 and 2014, companies with
a market cap of more than US$10 billion
with at least one woman on the board,
outperformed other large companies by
five percentage points on a sector-neutral
basis. For its part, the study from PIIE and
EY analyzed results from 21,980 global
publicly traded companies in 91 countries,
revealing that an organization with
30 percent female leaders could add up
to six percentage points to its net margin.
These findings are particularly
pertinent to low and middle income
countries, given the important role of
women in contributing to the
development of economies. According
to the UN Economic and Social Council,
investing in women, particularly in
emerging markets, produces higher
returns than investing in men, because »
RANIA HABIBY ANDERSON
is a speaker, coach and expert on the
career advancement of women in
emerging economies. She is the author
of Undeterred: The Six Success Habits
of Women in Emerging Economies.
AT A GLANCE
The premise that women in the workplace is a challenge to solve, rather than
a solution to economic woes is fundamentally flawed. If emerging markets were to
engage their millions of highly-qualified women, then companies and economies
would be all the better for it. All that is missing are simple, straightforward actions
by managers and leaders to actively engage in the advancement of women.
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